Thursday, 31 December 2015

Article: A Defective Federation

By Chido Onumah

The recent violent confrontation between
soldiers and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) should not come
as a surprise to anyone who understands the Nigerian state. It was bound to
happen.

In a country where truth is a scarce commodity
and where impunity (whether by state or non-state actors) is the norm, it will
be difficult to know exactly what happened in Zaria on December 12, 2015. Since
nobody takes responsibility for anything in Nigeria, that egregious crime –
committed by both parties – will go unpunished. Of course, there will be an
enquiry, perhaps a white paper, and that will be the end of the story; well,
until the next crisis.

It is not for nothing that events like the “Zaria
Massacre” have become a dominant feature of our socio-political life. To
understand that event, we must understand the psychology of the Nigerian
military which explains its actions since 1999 – whether in Odi, Zaki Biam,
Gbaramatu or other internal theatres of war it has been pre-occupied with in
the last 16 years.

So, how did we get here? The Nigerian state
has been essentially a military state since 1966. Nothing has changed; never
mind the fact that the country returned to civilian rule in 1999. The 1999
constitution that passes for the supreme law of the federal republic – just like
that of 1989 and 1979 before it – is a military decree writ large! The
inheritors of the military-induced transition of 1999 didn’t see – neither were
they interested in seeing – the constitution they were inheriting. They were
too eager to move the country forward, to borrow their clichéd expression, to
see that the road to their inheritance was laden with booby-traps. Even when it
was clear, the desire not to be left out of the gravy train of national
despoliation was too much of a temptation to resist.

Even though the president is
commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal republic, there is no effective
civilian control over the military enshrined in the constitution or any other
law of the country. For almost five decades since it first emerged on the
national scene, the military with the support of its civilian collaborators has
managed to contrive a nation in its own image and it doesn’t want to let go. One
glaring example of this is the continuous ugly spectacle of military officers
still featuring as ADCs, standing like zombies behind our elected presidents at
every public function. This can only happen in the kind sham democracy that
Nigeria and some other African countries practice.

Unfortunately, ours is not a political but a
deeply politicized military, often reserving loyalty not to the Nigerian state
but to the ruling party. It was the late military leader of Burkina Faso,
Thomas Sankara, who once remarked that, “A soldier without any political or
ideological training is a potential criminal.” If Nigeria had a political or
ideological military, the country would not be in the sorry state it is today. With
all due respect to our gallant men and women of the armed forces, the Nigerian
military, as an institution, has done more than any other group to destroy the
social fabric of this country. Whether we are talking about the desecration of
our democracy, undermining the rule of law, making corruption the national
ethos or creating structures that weaken the principle of federalism on which
this country was founded, our military is complicit in what Nigeria, a country
full of potential, has become.

Yet, it is ironic that the military has put
itself in a position that it has become the bastion of our unity, the perfector
of our national dreams and aspirations. We may not like it, but that is the reality.
Clearly, that is why the military gets away with murder every time it assaults
our national psyche by its overbearing presence. Evidently, the only way the
military can sustain the defective structural template it has created which is
set to consume all of us is through force.

The action of the IMN and the attendant “massacre”
is, therefore, understandable if not excusable. The IMN has been described as
an “armed” group that sees itself as being above the laws of the land; the
military says the attack on the group was carried out according
to “rules of engagement” (rules of engagement in a war or civil disturbance?) and
the
president described the tragedy as a “military affair”. He is right. It is in
the character of the Nigerian state, a state that has lost the capacity to self-correct.

But it didn’t start today. This phenomenon is
rooted in corruption which has weakened the social fabric of the country; but
more important, it is the fallout of the structural dysfunction engineered and
sustained by the military. For Nigeria, the chickens have come home to roost.
After five decades of military-inspired malfeasance, including the orchestrated
destruction of the principles of federalism, it is clear that we need to go
back to the drawing board.

The impunity that is on display in Nigeria today,
whether by the IMN and similar organisations or the military, can’t simply be
wished away. The Nigerian state has long abdicated its responsibilities to
citizens. Of course, with that abdication comes utter contempt for everything
the state stands for. Quality public education, health, basic infrastructure
and security of life have all disappeared. It is only natural, therefore, that
Nigerians have shifted their allegiance from the state to religious groups and
all manner of contrivances that have provided them succor.

The Nigerian state has all but collapsed, often
inducing violent self-help and pockets of states within the state. Much of this
is attributable to corruption, the erosion of the productive relationship
between the central government and the federating units in a federation and of
course the unholy alliance between the state and religion manifested, for
example, in the state’s support for pilgrims, building of religious
institutions, patronizing so-called imams and pastors for specialprayers and affiliation to religious groupings,
undermining the secularity of the Nigerian state.

Expectedly, this alliance finds expression in
politics since whoever controls power, particularly at the centre, also
controls how the asymmetric relationship between various religious groups in
the country is defined. Prayers have become central to state functions in
Nigeria. Public offices have become extensions of worship centres. If the
president/governor is a Muslim, the vice president/deputy governor necessarily
has to be a Christian and vice versa.

In May 2013, Premium Times reported that Niger State “subsidized” pilgrims to
Mecca and Jerusalem in six years to the tune of N5.1 billion. Add another
billion to cover the fraud that will trail the process, that would amount to an
average of N1 billion a year. In defence of that mindless waste of public fund,
the then governor, the chief servant, Babangida Aliyu, noted that, “it was the
only benefit residents were getting from government.” According to figures by
the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the internally generated revenue (IGR)
for Niger State in 2014 was N5.7 billion. Imagine that Niger State has to
depend on its IGR to sustain the state, chances are that it wouldn’t spend N1
billion a year to “subsidize” pilgrims. It would be interesting to know how
much the state spends a year on primary education and primary healthcare.

Today, religious institutions and groups of
every hue hold us hostage and there is no recourse. I agree with the notion
that violent religious extremism of any kind is the greatest existential threat
not just to Nigeria but to the rest of the world. While it is true, in some
cases, that the internal schism within religious groups can lead to violence
that threatens us all, the lethal cocktail of state and religion in Nigeria has
ensured that this schism plays out in the political arena.

For me, the carnage notwithstanding, the most
troubling aspect of the “Zaria Massacre” was listening to our military high
command pontificate about its commitment to keep Nigeria united; “one Nigeria;
one destiny,” as they described it. By its admission, the military is saying
Nigeria is a country at war with itself if every civil disturbance must warrant
military intervention. But let us not forget for once that the military brought
us to this sad end.

So, how do we build a nation not held together
by military force? Nigeria is sleepwalking to disaster. Now is the time to
reclaim the country and the starting point would be to put in place a people’s
constitution that not only serves the interest of the mass of our people but
advances the principles of federalism.

That is the only way to save Nigeria and put
an end to the messiah complex of the Nigerian military.